“It gets better.” He reached into his jacket pocket and produced an old-fashioned paperback book. “I borrowed this from Resolve, so don’t spill any coffee on it.”
“Borrowed. Right.” I took the book and turned it over in my hands, reading the description. It was a cozy mystery, the kind with a delightfully non-violently murdered body in the first chapter, a kooky detective, and a fast paced plot. “Sounds like it was written for me,” I said.
With the blanket pulled up to my chin, I settled into the pillows and read. Ruush stretched out on the rug next to me, eyes closed. From the way his ears twitched, he didn’t sleep. As the sunlight grew stronger, Ruush removed his jacket and shirt to soak up the sunshine. I tried not to stare at his sculpted chest and finely-defined abdomen.
The sunlight created a warm glow on his slate-blue skin. Faint silvery markings stretched across his chest and shoulders. It had to be an illusion of the light. Ruush said he had no Fremmian bioluminescence due to his half-Terran blood.
“Do you even put your crew on ice to have a day off?” I asked. Ruush turned his head to look at me but said nothing, painting an innocent expression on his face. “You do! I knew it!” I shimmied my shoulders in a tiny victory dance.
“Stasis is the only way to get Vex and Rise to stop bickering,” he finally said.
“Don’t hire brothers if you want peace and quiet.” Also, don’t be a smuggler, but why split hairs?
When the sun grew warm, Ruush produced water and sunscreen. Slowly families arrived and crowded the beach, setting up their blankets and umbrellas. Kids ran past, shrieking and kicking up sand. I brushed sand off the open pages of the book, watching a mother slather sunscreen on a squirming child.
“Do you ever wonder about finding your family?” Ruush asked, following my gaze.
“My mother died and my father sold me to criminals. What do you think?”
Ruush gave me a long, considerate look, intense enough to make me squirm. “I think you do.”
“Well, you’re wrong.” So wrong. So wrong in so many ways. Okay, maybe sometimes I daydreamed about tracking down my father. Not for a tearful reunion, mind you. The reunion I had in mind involved a blaster to the knee. “He’s probably not even alive.”
“Smart money says no, if his gambling problem is half as bad as you claim.”
“I’m not claiming anything. He was an addict. He sold me. Roasting in the endless fires of Hell isn’t good enough for him.” I had no memories of my mother. I couldn’t even remember my birth name. My memories of my father were hazy at best and mostly constructed from Calmness telling me the story of how he acquired his pet. I sighed heavily and toyed with fringe of the blanket. I wasn’t even sure where to start searching for him.
Ruush said, “Time for lunch.”
“Sounds wonderful.”
Ruush managed to fit everything onto the back of the bike. He pointed the bike down the shore towards the little town. Brightly colored houses filled the seaside. Native palm trees lined the streets. The bike moved through the narrow streets, towards the harbor. The buildings grew less cheerful and bright and more dingy and pessimistic. Near the water, Ruush parked in front of a building with peeling white clapboards. The faded sign promised seafood at the best prices.
“Lunch?” he asked.
“I’m not going to get food poisoning here?” Even if he said no, I wouldn’t believe him.
“Trust me,” he said, opening the front door. A delicious aroma wafted out. I still didn’t trust him but my stomach rumbled, making the decision for me.
“If I get sick, I’m aiming for your shoes,” I promised.
The cafe was simple and well-worn but clean. Ruush spoke in quiet tones to a waitress wiping down a table. She nodded and pointed to a set of double doors. Ruush turned to me, and pushed back a strand of hair behind my ear. I was ready to purr. I knew anatomically I couldn’t, but I my heart was about to burst in my chest.
“You’re going to like this and it won’t make you sick. Unfortunately,” he paused, my heart sinking, “I have to take care of a little business first. I’ll be back before our meal is here.”
I nodded. What else could I do?
He pressed his lips to my forehead in a quick kiss and took off. The waitress seated me on the patio, facing the harbor. The umbrella over the table provided shade. I sipped a fruity iced tea while waiting for our meal and Ruush to return. The waves lapped gently in the harbor and the seagulls squawked. I focused on the brightly colored sailboats on the water to keep myself from obsessing about what Ruush was up to. He was keeping secrets, not that that shocked or surprised me. He never really stopped keeping secrets from me. Or promised he would. Dammit, the concerned mate routine he’d been playing had gone to my head. It wasn’t real. It. Was. Not. Real.
Coffee on the beach at sunrise, that felt real.
A blush crept over me. Last night felt real.
I had convinced myself that Ruush was different from the men I’d known my entire life, from the men I was running from. I could trust him. The romanticized portrayal of Fremm in pop culture skewed my judgment. All those damn dramas about honor and valor. Okay, I had mostly watched those programs because of the actors and all of their sweaty, gleaming muscles on display during the action scenes. A girl’s got needs.
The notion of “needs” brought me back to Ruush. Part of me was certainly convinced that I needed him. My core had ached to the point that I couldn’t sleep. I craved his touch. But he wasn’t the man I took him for.
The last two weeks, he’d seen how hard I’d worked at the clinic. He’d seen the impact of the epidemic and the meager supplies I’d had to work with. How could he still want to steal supplies? For something as meaningless as money?
Ruush was no better than Swift or Gentle. More charming, perhaps, but it was an empty charm.
He was a great big “bad guy,” and nothing more.
The meal arrived before he returned, and the aroma that drifted up from honey-glazed fish was irresistible. Another plate arrived, with boiled shrimp cooked in a lemon butter sauce. Then a bowl of a creamy risotto and a basket of soft biscuits. No Ruush yet.
My stomach rumbled. Screw it. If he could keep secrets, I could start without him. The fish melted into flakey, honey filled joy in my mouth. I groaned with pleasure before splitting open a biscuit, steam rising from the freshly-baked dough.
Ruush finally reappeared, lounging in a chair like he never left. Look at him, stuffing his face with biscuits. What do I even know about him? He has a ship; he has a brother. That’s it.
“Is your mother really an archeologist?”
“Yes.”
“And you won the Promontory in a card game from your brother?” I asked.
“Who would make up such a thing?”
I cocked an eyebrow at him.
“We have trouble sharing,” he said. The he flashed that cocky grin and my doubts vanished. “Why all the questions?”
“Because I don’t trust you.”
“And playing Twenty Questions will build trust?”
“Yes! That’s how relationships are built.”
“Fine. Ask me anything. Within reason. But I get to ask you a question in return.”
“How big is your family?”
“Just me, Dashle, and Mom. Our father died a few years ago. Do you know anything more about your own family?”
“Malik is my family.” And waiting for me on Galax One. “Why are you so obsessed with my father?”
Ruush shook his head. “You wasted a perfectly good question. You really have no interest in finding him?”
“Fuck him. What’s up with the augmented lenses?”
“Genetic defect in my eyes. It’s progressively getting worse. Fun fact, the same defect gives me that sexy plum color.”
My gaze shifted to the table. I was not going to blush about his stupid, sexy plum-colored eyes.
“You think about starting a family of your own?” he asked.
“I need to have sex first before I worry about babies. Why so curious about babies?”
“Trying to build a relationship here. Did you kill your Master?”
“No.” The questioned left me momentarily stunned. Who had killed Calmness was a good question, even though I’d done my part. “Someone else did. Why’d you get kicked out of the Academy?”
A flash of white fang against slate-blue skin. “Reasons.”
Reasons? What kind of bullshit answer was that?
“If you didn’t kill your master, why do his sons believe you did?”
“I didn’t kill him! I just… Look, I gave him the wrong anti-venom but no one saw what snake bit him so it was an educated guess. Did you steal a Holy Sword from the Academy?”
“Keeping fishing but you’re not going to win that bet. Wrong anti-venom on purpose?”
“No.” Again, I was technically lying but we never said we had to answer truthfully. “Did you seduce the Commander’s daughter?”
“Persie? No. She was impenetrable.” He grinned at his own bad pun as his wrist comm beeped. Ruush glanced down. “Time to wake up the sleeping beauties, doc.”
Chapter Fourteen
Ruush
Kitten wasn’t going to be happy with me. She wasn’t too thrilled me with me to begin with, but when she discovered I’d been withholding information, she was going to be livid. Sure, she was cute when she was mad. Her lips parted just so and her skin got all rosy. But as much as I wanted to stand there, half hard, thinking about the way she stomped her foot and her tits bounced, I had work to do.
She didn’t realize I heard her muttering about honesty. She was hardly subtle, comparing me to some ideal. I didn’t know what she was expecting. I was upfront about being a smuggler. Hell, she was a stowaway on my ship and begged me to smuggle her off Talmar. And she expected honesty? Trustworthiness?
And yet, I found myself compelled to be a better man for her, to be the honest man she believed she needed. Considering where she came from, I couldn’t blame her. Calmness Yvar had a reputation of being bat-shit crazy, so I had steered clear of him and his syndicate whenever possible. So kitten had issues with men who lied and men she couldn’t trust. It was understandable, but she’s had to be flexible on this. I couldn’t be anything other than myself.
After tonight, once the operation was complete, she’d come around. She wouldn’t be happy, but she’d come around. It was adorable the way she tried to talk me out of it, right up to the last minute when the stasis chambers were opening.
When I gave her the gift I picked up today, she’d see I was more than empty words.
Hilly was the first to wake. The color flowed back into her rich, dark skin. Meyet gave my engineer a piece of ginger candy. “Helps with the nausea,” she said.
One-by-one, the chambers opened, and she distributed the candies. Resolve was the last to wake. They say the older you are; the harder stasis was on the body. The stubborn Tal woman would never admit to having difficulty with the stasis chambers. Maybe it was time for me to stop asking her to climb into the chambers.
Protein shakes and ration bars settled the crew’s stomach and shook off the last of the stasis gas. An hour later, we sat around the table in Mess, going over the plan. Meyet sat at the end of the table, arms folded over her chest, a frown on her pretty face.
“Everyone clear on their jobs?” I asked.
The crew nodded. Meyet’s frown intensified. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but closed it.
“Spit it out,” I said.
“Can’t you reconsider?” she asked.
Resolve gave me a look, eyebrows arched. I ignored her. “It’s too late to change plans. You’ve done your bit, kitten. You’re job is to stay in the ship and stay out of our way.”
Meyet turned her eyes away from me but said nothing.
Great. So far my brilliant plan was making life harder with my mate.
The crew prepared with their normal jibes and good-natured laughter. Hilly doubled-checked Vex’s gear when she believed no one was looking. Doting, even. Everyone saw.
“Is the silencer on the engines in working order?” I asked my Terran engineer.
“Should be, Captain.”
“Should be? Mighty optimistic of you,” I said. “You know what they call an optimistic engineer?”
“Dead, Sir.”
“Or exploded. Or frozen. Or a hundred other nasty ways to die. Adram can’t hear us land tonight, understood?”
She nodded, curls bouncing.
Vex watched her generous ass as she walked away.
“I don’t understand that Terran woman,” I said. “She an absolute hellcat when she’s down in the engine room, the filthiest mouth I’ve ever heard, and yet she’s shy like a schoolgirl around you.” Hilly was quiet, demure, and positively timid until you got a layer of grease on her, and she turned into a demanding monster. She could throw a wrench with surprising aim, and those suckers hurt.
“She’s shy is all,” Vex said, grey ears twitching.
“And I don’t know why she settled for a surly bastard like you.”
“I don’t understand it myself but I’m not going to ask too many questions in case she changes her mind.”
I nodded at the sage wisdom. Unconsciously, I patted my trouser front pocket. I couldn't wait to see the look on Meyet’s kissable face when I gave her the little box. There’d be plenty of kissing tonight. Hopefully more.
I was really hoping for the “more.”
Meyet
Night fell. The Promontory maintained a low orbit. The good humor of the crew continued right up to the last moment. I was the only sour grape in the bunch.
I had no idea what we were doing, and no one would tell me anything. But it was just as well. I didn’t want to know.
On the view screen, a maglev track came into view. The signals glowed green in the night. That seemed in order. A maglev train would barrel down the track without issue. Did Ruush plan to land the ship on the train? That was insane. Even if Jonee could land on such a small, moving target, the ship would crush the train.
Then one single turned red, indicating trouble down the line. Interesting. The plan was actually to stop the train.
After a few minutes, the bright lights of a train appeared. The great machine slowed, eventually stopping. I tensed, ready for the ship to land and the crew to swarm out, but the Promontory remained airborne.
On the screen however, a different crew circled the stopped train. The unknown crew began to empty the train’s cargo into smaller vehicles. The Promontory’s crew watched Ruush and he watched the screen, arms folded behind his back. Vex’s tail twitched in agitation. Rise remained perfectly still and watched his captain. Jonee watched the control panel.
“Now,” Ruush commanded.
Jonee landed the ship without issue and without a sound. The men who were emptying the train heard nothing.
“You know the plan. I want him alive but he doesn’t have to be pretty.” Ruush’s words made no sense to me. “And you stay here, kitten.” Like I would help him rob medical supplies from a sick and desperate colony.
Ruush and the crew left and the ship felt remarkably empty. The view screen, however, continued to relay the action. I could see the dark, lithe forms of Vex and Rise sneaking through the dark. With the butt of their blasters, they knocked out the men unloading the train. Huh.
That’s when I noticed Resolve doing the same thing, incapacitating the crew that had stopped the train. What was going on? They were robbing the robbers? No, they were vultures, swooping into to steal the fruit of another’s crew labors. This was somehow worse than stealing from a sick colony.
I saw Ruush’s form stalk through the incapacitated thieves. The original crew of the train was bound, and sitting on the ground. Ruush paused to say something to a man in uniform, possibly the train engineer. Then I noticed a tall figure emerged out of the shadows. His complex was a dark navy and blended in well to the night. A
nother Fremmian. An old friend? Was Ruush in cahoots with this unknown man?
Ruush turned, sensing he was not alone, but not in time to avoid the blow to his shoulders. He stumbled but did not fall.
Nope, not an old friend.
Ruush said something but the view screen had no sound. I punched buttons in frustration, trying to bring the sound up but to no avail. The other man said something in reply. Judging from the lift in his chin, he was being arrogant about it and totally playing into those Fremm stereotypes. Honorable, yes, but Fremm arrogance was legendary. You didn’t see that trait portrayed too often in films.
The men burst into motion, grappling and throwing punches. Vex and Rise were busy with their own fights, and I couldn’t find Resolve on the screen. I switched to another camera’s feed. No Resolve. I hailed her on the comm. No answer. I tried Jonee. Nothing. There must be a blocker. Which made sense. The original thieves did not want the train to radio for help.
I was alone on the ship. Well, Hilly was in the engine room, keeping the ship ready to go at a moment’s notice. The feed went back to Ruush, his nose bludgeoned and bleeding again. Damn that man and his breakable nose. Protectiveness swelled inside my chest. That was my nose, dammit. No one got to bust that cartilage but me.
Without pausing, I ran to the armory and grabbed a lightweight blaster. It wasn’t the hardest hitting weapon in the room but I could handle the kickback. Before I could question myself, I ran down the ramp and into the fray.
Ruush
Some things don’t change and once a snake, always a snake. Adram remained the coldest, lowest viper I’d ever encountered. The consistency was comforting. It was good to be able to count on people.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” I said, skirting the big man’s clumsy lunge. While he was bigger than me, if I stayed out of arm's length, I could wear him down. If he grappled me, it was over. “My crew of five disarmed all your men. Embarrassing.”
“Who sold me out,” he growled.
Alien Rogue's Price: Alpha Alien Romance (Alpha Aliens of Fremm Book 4) Page 9
